Chapter 750

“So, camp setup, I’ve spent all day walking to the location and I find that it’s a massive snow drift. I was also warned the tracker isn’t quite accurate enough to give me something much better then ‘around here’ because it starts spinning wildly which hasn’t quite happened yet. It’s getting darker though and unlike Kat who has NIGHT VISION. Which is BULLSHIT, I didn’t think to pack a lantern either. So off I go to sleep,” said Kamiko.

“Yeah how come you have night vision?” asked Sue, “That seems like an extra ability and you’ve already got a few of them... oh the crazy shit I could try with regeneration!”

Kat shrugged, “My best guess is that it’s part of my true sight. The thing is though, I can be forced to see darkness either through magic or just by lining the walls with black cloth and making it look like darkness. Apparently magical shadows don’t count as illusions.”

“Hmm, I dunno Kat. Maybe they do count but only if you’re at a higher Rank. True Sight is a bit niche but is basically in its own weight class when it comes to detection abilities. Not much gets through it. Heck I’ve heard rumours it can even see-through clothes eventually so our friend might be a bit of a voyeur,” said Sue with a cheeky grin.

Kat rolled her eyes. “I doubt it actually lets you see through clothes,” *Almost entirely based on the fact I’d have no interest in such an ability. Maybe other Succubi would gain it but I have no use for it.*

[What if Sue’s being silly but only in how she phrased it? Nira does medical stuff right? Well what if Sue left out that yes, it can see through clothes, but it also sees through skin and muscle as well letting you look over people’s bones and find any hidden weapons or something.]

*That... hmm... I feel like it’d still be its own ability but it’s also more likely than my scenario. With Nira and Kamiko’s fancy eyes I think chances are high that Nira already has such a skill and Kamiko will probably develop it at some point. Maybe eyes that can shoot X-rays and have a ‘deadly’ and ‘vision’ setting? Not sure how big of a deal radiation is for magical creatures.*

.....

Kat glanced over at Kamiko who seemed uncertain. So to give her friend a slight push she said, “Kamiko, would you like to keep going with the story?”

“Oh. Oh yes right...” Kamiko fidgeted a bit. “Um... where was I? Um...”

“Sleeping” answered Sue.

“Right. Right... sleeping. I didn’t have a tent or anything but I know how to make a little igloo so I was cosy enough. I was smart enough to grab a thick... not really a tarp or a blanket it was sort of a combination of both. Soft enough to help smooth out any sticks or rocks underneath it but hardy enough that I wasn’t worried about the snow soaking through it like I would a normal blanket. I could complain about it a bit but Mum taught me not to be too picky during Contracts. Well, that or to carry a backpack with camping supplies but I’m really bad at setting up tents for some reason and I dropped that idea fast.

“Morning rose eventually and I got up, stretched a bit and started to clear away the snow. It took me a good few hours and what I should have clued onto was the fact the orb wasn’t spinning. Still, I was standing exactly where it told me to go. I’m sure you can guess it but it was deeper in the mountains in one of the tunnels. I just didn’t realise that yet. So I’m standing on packed ice. Massive amounts of snow cleared, and no sign of any caves so far.

“I decide to start digging a bit with my hands but unlike some people,” Kamiko glared at Kat, “I’d have rubbed my hands raw digging at the dirt for too long and I can’t just expect my body to fix the damage instantly. The last thing I needed was an infection on a snowing mountain. While it might not be bad for me, it would mean chances of rescue are low. See, a bit of a fever isn’t enough for the System to call us back. If it’s not life threatening it just won’t bother. So if I caught something bad and got laid out for a week I’d be hungry and weak but not quite dead enough to just leave.

“After some thinking, I decided I needed a shovel. My backpack had supplies, rope and some knives included, so I got to work on making... well it couldn’t really be called a shovel. More like a rock on a stick but it did give me more leverage and it helped save my hands even if it didn’t dig very well...”

Kamiko trailed off and the other three waited for some sort of continuation. A minute passed and Lily decided to carefully make it known they wanted to continue. Hopping down from Kat’s pillow pile Lily sauntered over and took a seat on Kamiko’s lap. Kamiko sighed and started to run her fingers through Lily’s fur. “Thanks Lily. I’m not exactly proud of myself but... I kept digging. For basically the whole day.

“It was only when I hit solid rock that I got fed up with things and stomped back to the igloo to check the dial again. I walked it over to the bottom of the hole... and no spin. It kept pointing down. That’s when I remember how it worked and I was NOT happy realising I’d just wasted a full day digging. I wanted to set out right then and there to keep going... but it was getting dark so I curled up and tried to sleep.

“Tried being the key word here. Might have gotten a few minutes here and there and maybe an hour in the early morning but it was eating at me the whole time. I stomped around for a while. It’d snowed of course so I couldn’t just retrace my steps and I didn’t bother to follow the road once I got on the mountain so I was... I don’t want to say lost because I had another compass for getting back to the city, but I didn’t want to backtrack too far and managed to waste another day searching for a path.

“It was dark but I finally managed to stumble onto a cave just before all the light was gone. I’d probably left it a bit late because if I didn’t find that cave I wouldn’t have enough sunlight to build a new igloo. Anyway, it wasn’t THE cave. Just a small cave that only went so far into the rocks. Slept there the night and got back to exploring. Around lunch time I finally found the path. I checked with the ‘city’ compass to make sure I was heading away from it, and checked my ‘relic’ compass to see that I was heading in the right direction and to my surprise, I WAS.

“So I followed that path for a while until the relic dial turned off to the side. Followed it for a while but making sure to only head straight and make a deep groove through the snow so that I could easily find my way back... and nothing. Walked for about an hour and not a cave in sight. This is where I really started to wish I had wings. I could have canvassed the area much more easily if I had the ability.

“Sadly, it was another day of wandering through the snow. Found a few caves and one that was decently long but it ended after 30 minutes of walking. I do mean walking by the way. Without any kind of light I had to rely on the very slight glow from the compass and letting my hands run over the wall. I would occasionally use a flash of my demonic fire to check something but it was much too taxing to use often.”

“I’m not sure how much detail you want but I slept, kept searching and eventually found the box the next day. It was in the middle of a frankly massive tunnel that I nearly didn’t bother with. It also looped back around itself a couple times and I was worried I was heading in the wrong direction because of the compass. The only reason I stayed onboard was that I found this big clump of matted fur that got caught on a rock near the entrance. Lucky I did because I FOUND THE BOX!”

Sue bit down hard on her lip. She wanted to make a joke about Kamiko’s excitement. Perhaps something like, ‘found yourself someone’s treasure?’ or ‘You seem excited, did you lick it or did it lick you?’ but Kamiko’s frustration with the whole scenario had clearly been building in the background and it was only Lily keeping Kamiko’s hands busy that stopped a complete blow up. So, Sue took the high road. Allowing the smugness of that fact to keep her from blurting something annoying out.